BEPC Session 2018 - Epreuve écrit d'Anglais
Memories
I was born into a large family. My father who was a farmer had four wives and twenty-eight children. I also belonged to an extended family and to all the community.
We spoke Gikuyu which is a local language at home and in the fields where we worked. I can clearly remember those evenings when the adults told stories to the children around the wood fire; everybody was interested.
We, the children, would retell the stories the following days to the other children who were absent because they were working in the fields.
The tales in which animals are the main characters, were told in Gikuyu. Hare, being small, weak and intelligent, was our hero.
We liked him because he struggled against the brutes like lion, leopard, hyena. His victories were our victories and we learnt that the apparently weak can be more clever than the stronger. During the story-telling, we could imagine the animals in their struggles against hostile nature (drought, rain, sun, wind) and in their rivalries. These struggles against nature and other animais reflect real situations.
Everywhere in the Gikuyu country, children are educated through popular and traditional stories which prepare them for real life experiences.
Adapted from Ngugi Wa Thiongo (1986) Decolonising the Mind: The politics of language in Africa
Vocabulary
- a tale: un conte
- a hare: un lièvre
- a rivalry: une rivalité.
Questions
I. Comprehension (8 pts.)
A. Read the text and write the letter that is in front of the correct answer. (write only the number and the Ietter) (2 pts.)
1. The narrator was born in a ..... family:
a. small.
b. rich.
c. big.
d. poor.
2. Adults told stories .....
a. near the fire.
b. in the fields.
c. to adults.
d. without children.
3. Children liked Hare because he was….
a. curious.
b. ridiculous.
c. courageous.
d. dangerous.
4. ln the tales, animals’ life is ….
a. easy.
b. difficult.
c. interesting.
d. wonderful.
B. Read the text and decide if these statements are true or false. (Write only the number and true or false) (2 pts.)
1. The narrator’s father was polygamous.
2. In the text, all the children work in the fields at night.
3. All the characters in the stories were animals.
4. The narrator also belonged to all the village.
C. Read the text and answer these questions in complete sentences. (4 pts.)
1. How many people were there in the narrator's family? (1 pt.)
2. To whom did the children retell the stories? (1 pt.)
3. Why did adults tell stories to the children? (2 pts.)
II. Vocabulary (2 pts.)
A. Find in the text the antonyms of the underlined words (write only the number and the word). (1 pt.)
1. The Gikuyu children never forget their tales. (Paragraph 2)
2. The Gikuyu adults protect the strong children. (Paragraph 4).
B. Fill in the blanks with the synonym of the word in brackets to complete the sentences. (write only the number and the word) (1 pt.)
1. This …. grows millet in his field. (peasant) (paragraph 1)
2. The …. for survival is taught to the Gikuyu children. (fight) (paragraph 5)
III. Grammar (6 pts)
A. Choose the letter corresponding to the correct answer and write it in front of each number. (write only the number and the letter) (2 pts.)
1. Last year, the Gikuyu children ..... the stories.
a. do not retell
b. did not retell
c. will not retell
d. shall not retell
2. Every day my grandmother ..... us stories.
a. tells
b. has told
c. tell
d. have told
B. Complete with "what"; "what a"; "what an". (write only the number and the word(s)) (1 pt.)
1. .....intelligent children!
2. … interesting tale.
C. The underlined words are grammatical mistakes. Correct them. (write only the number and the word) (1 pt.)
1. The Gikuyu children works in the fields everyday.
2. He eats two days ago.
D. Choose the correct answer to fill in the blanks. (write only the number and the letter) (1 pt.)
1. My father was a farmer,......
a. so was my mother.
b. so is my mother.
c. so will be my mother.
d. so has been my mother.
2. Some parents do not tell stories,....
a. neither has my grandfather.
b. neither had my grandfather.
c. neither did my grandfather.
d. neither does my grandfather.
E. Write the sentences and put the verbs in parentheses into the correct tenses. (1 pt.)
1. If the children (to be) present, they would retell the stories.
2. If Lion (to catch) Hare, he will eat him.
F. Turn these sentences into the passive voice. (1 pt.)
1. The children spoke Gikuyu.
2. The farmers grow beans.
IV. Writing (4 pts.)
Why must children help their parents to work? Give three reasons in 40-50 words.